Ha ha Kerny! It's the northern short arms deep pockets syndrome. It only took me 18 months to get round to it. My thinking was I spend £50 pm for my sky package which I don't use as I'm always on Ribnet. So actually spending £1.66 pm on Ribnet is a steal!

* So for £20 I can still access all the free content on the site. Its a bit like being able to buy a paper copy of the telegraph or read all its content online for free. Except I can read it all online for free or pay £20 to read exactly the same content online for free.
* I can wave a flag that says I support the site but doesn't mean anything - its not some garuntee to readers that I don't talk sh*te. Not like a karma score might.
* I can let my PM box fill up for longer before having to empty it. Oooh how exciting! Since I haven't filled my 25 messages its not likely to make me subscribe. I can see prolific users of PMs may subscribe for this. (Realising this will now prompt Willk and Poly et al to PM me a load of cr*p to fill my inbox and make me think I need a bigger box!)
* Custom pic on my profile - not convincing me
* Oversized avatar! I don't bother with a real sized one. They don't usually appear on here for me and don't show in the ap.

So there has to be a return on investment for me. If the site sounded like it might wind up if there was no supporters maybe I'd think about it. But since the american's bought it I guess they think there is money to be made which i guess comes from Ads and Trade Members on the whole.

Other ROIs? Maybe if paying £20 meant my posts wouldn't be populated with ad-links that might convince me? Suspect you'd make more from my £20 than from the ad-links in my posts.